Analyzing your Hometown Stream using On-line USGS NWIS Data
This educational resource page details a MATLAB-based undergraduate activity where students analyze long-term discharge data from their local streams using USGS NWIS databases to explore hydrological patterns, flood frequency, and human or climatic influences, emphasizing open-ended, student-driven geoscience inquiry and quantitative skill development within the Methods of Geoscience teaching framework. auto-generated The author of this page didn't provide a brief description so this one sentence summary was created by an AI tool. It may not be completely accurate.

Investigating Stream Energy and Gradient Using Small Stream Tables
Beth Dushman, Howard Community College
In this Physical Geology lab activity, students investigate the relationship between stream energy and gradient by changing the gradient of a small stream table and observing changes in stream erosion.

Exploring the nature of geoscience using cartoon cards
Anne Egger, Central Washington University
In this activity, students work in groups to put a set of cartoon cards in order, much in the way that we might assemble a geologic history. The primary goal of the activity is to explore the nature of science in general and the nature of geoscience or historical science specifically, without requiring any content knowledge.

Sea Floor Magnetism
Kyle Gray, University of Northern Iowa
Students use compasses and bar magnets to simulate the collection of sea floor magnetic polarity data. Even though the students do not directly observe the magnets, they use the information to infer tectonic processes present at the mid-ocean ridges and calculate the spreading rates for two different ridges.

Exploring Evidence of Plate Tectonics Using GeoMapApp
Sean Cornell, Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania
This activity requires students to explore a range of datasets that help substantiate Plate Tectonic Theory. Students investigate plate tectonic environments (convergent, divergent, transform boundaries), topography/bathymetry of continents and ocean basins, the distribution and pattern of earthquakes, the distribution of volcanoes, as well as ages of the sea-floor, and more.

The Cube Exercise and the Methods of Science
Barbara Bekken, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
A new approach to using an exercise from the National Academy of Science publication "Teaching about Evolution and the Nature of Science" to support students in developing a deeper understanding of descriptive methods, experimental methods, and methodological assumptions.

Guided Discovery and Scoring Rubric for Petrographic Analysis of a Thin Section
Dave Mogk, Montana State University
This educational resource page presents a guided discovery method and scoring rubric for teaching petrographic analysis of thin sections, emphasizing higher-order cognitive skills, systematic observation, hypothesis testing, and contextual interpretation in geoscience education, with adaptations for scaffolded learning and embedded assessment in petrology instruction. auto-generated The author of this page didn't provide a brief description so this one sentence summary was created by an AI tool. It may not be completely accurate.

Think-Aloud Modeling of Geologic Reasoning in the Field
Steve Reynolds, Arizona State University Campus Immersion
This activity involves explicitly sharing with students all the thoughts that occur to the instructor, as they occur, at a geologic field site. Assessment can be conducted with concept sketches.

Evaluating the lines of evidence for plate tectonics
Becca Walker, Mt San Antonio College
In this in-class exercise, students compare several lines of evidence that support the ideas of continental drift and plate tectonics. Before the class meeting, each student is given a preparation assignment in which he/she studies one "continental drift" and one "ocean floor data" map. In class, students divide into teams of 3, with each team member having prepared different specialties. They discuss their respective maps and look for spatial patterns among the data.

Collaborative Research Project: Geoscience Undergraduate Curricula
Barbara Bekken, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Collaborative research project in which undergraduate geoscience curricula at Research 1 institutions are compared. This project uses the methods of science to explore a topic that beginning students can understand. This project uses rubrics for self, peer, and instructor assessment.